Using Technology Wisely in Schools essays

Using Technology Wisely in Schools essays Wenglinskys publisher is Teachers College Press, and in fact, Wenglinsky is a research scientist, advocate for the modernization of schools and teacher who has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on school issues that have nothing to do with technology. His book offers both wisdom and practicality, and he suggests that of the two philosophies styles of teaching, didactic and constructivist, when embracing computer technologies in classroom, the best approach is constructivist. In fact, the word constructivist appears continually in his book. Constructivist is the best policy first of all because, as he writes on pages 8-9 of his Introduction, the teachers role is not to hand out drills as assignments and sit in front of her own computer playing solitaire (the didactic approach). In fact the teacher as a constructivist will use computers as a tool to concretize concepts; this opens the door to the teachers opportunity to try to convey the initial abstraction in a way that students will then convey to one another. The constructivist teacher uses technology correctly and hence teaches students complex problem-solving skills in an iterative process that moves from abstractions to concrete examples, where students control most of the learning process, Wenglinsky writes on page 11. Basically, he is saying teachers trained properly in technology can empower students to think and problem-solve on their own. That having been pointed out, Wenglinsky wonders, What is the value-added of the technology above and beyond good teaching? The answer is that computers are like language, Wenglinsky continues; and instructors and teachers are working at the highest level of efficiency when they speak the same language, and employ the tools that can make a better future for all. In his Chapter 1, the author runs through the legislation and st...